ijv  ,  THE  RELATIONS  OF  THE  INDUSTRIES  TO  THE  ADVANCE¬ 


MENT  OF  CHEMICAL  SCIENCE. 


!•; . 


Ul'.  ». 


ADDRESS 


BY 


WILLIAM  McMURTEIE  Ph.D 


VICE-PRESIDENT,  SECTION  C. 


BEFORE  THE 


y-  M  •  I  ' 


SECTION  OF  CHEMISTRY. 


AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  FOR  THE  ADVANCElwfeNT  OF  SCIE.XCE, 


i  i 


At  the  Springfield  Meeting, 


August,  1895. 


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[From  the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  vol.  xliv,  1895.] 


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THE  RELATIONS  OF  THE  INDUSTRIES  TO  THE  ADVANCE¬ 
MENT  OF  CHEMICAL  SCIENCE. 


ADDRESS 

BY 

WILLIAM  McMURTRIE  Ph.D. 

VICE-PRESIDENT,  SECTION  C. 

BEFORE  THE 

SECTION  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  FOR  THE  ADVANCEMENT  OF  SCIENCE, 

At  the  Springfield  J^eeting, 

•  >  »Tf 

^  _  ,  August,  1895. 

<5 

A 

I  •  ■ 

[From  the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  vol.  xliv,  1895.] 


Printed  by  Aylward  &  Huntress, 

Ubc  Salem  B)re0s. 

Salem,  Mass. 

1895, 


•oOo^. 


ADDRf:SS 


BY 

WILLIAM  McMUKTKIE,  Pii.D., 

VICE-PRESIDRNT,  SECTION  C. 


THE  RELATIONS  OF  THE  INDUSTRIES  TO  THE  ADVANCE¬ 
MENT  OF  CHEMICAL  SCIENCE. 


We  justly  congratulate  ourselves  that  development  and  progress 
in  chemistry,  both  in  science  and  technology,  have  been  more 
rapid  in  the  past  three  decades  than  ever  before  and  that  as  much 
has  been  accomplished  in  this  period  as  in  all  the  years  preceding 
since  reactions  have  been  known  and  applied.  New  elements,  new 
compounds,  new  theories  and  new  laws  have  followed  each  other 
in  the  manifold  directions  with  such  enormous  rapidity  that  few 
have  been  able  to  keep  informed  of  all,  and  most  of  us  of  only  a 
few,  of  the  discoveries  and  generalizations  that  have  been  made. 
It  is  for  the  purpose  of  exchanging  information  on  these  subjects 
that  we  come  together  at  the  present  time,  and  it  has  been  the 
custom  of  the  Chairman  to  discuss  one  or  another  of  these  lines  of 
progress,  setting  forth  the  most  important  of  what  has  been  devel¬ 
oped  in  the  more  recent  times.  In  many  of  the  discussions  and 
addresses  on  similar  occasions  by  those  more  or  less  closely  allied 
with  or  engaged  in  the  study  of  so-called  pure  chemistry,  much 
has  been  said  of  the  practical  value  of  the  results  obtained  in  the 
scientific  laboratories  devoted  to  research,  and  the  uses  they  have 
found  in  daily  life.  No  one  has  arisen  to  question  the  truth  of 
what  has  been  said,  nor  could  it  be  questioned,  for  those  men  who 
have  been  working  with  the  most  unselfish  devotion  to  the  pursuit 
of  truth  for  truth’s  sake,  and  with  little  hope  of  reward  for  the 
service  they  have  rendered,  have  acquired  and  disseminated  a  store 

(1) 


13380 


2 


SECTION  C. 


of  knowledge  which  has  added  so  largely  to  the  capacity  of  all 
men  for  work  that  only  the  most  grateful  acknowledgments  may  be 
offered.  While  all  this  must  be  accepted,  it  is  seldom  that  any¬ 
thing  is  heard  regarding  the  reciprocal  influence  of  the  industries 
and  the  ordinary  occupations  of  daily  life,  upon  the  development 
or  advancement  of  chemical  science,  and  it  has  seemed  that,  in  this 
period  of  relaxation,  it  would  be  well  to  stop  and  consider  what 
are  the  relations  of  the  industries  to  the  science  from  the  other 
side  of  the  question,  and  what  aid  has  come  from  the  former-  to 
the  latter  to  promote  its  advancement,  if,  indeed,  any  distinction 
can  be  made  so  far  as  the  additions  to  human  knowledge  are  con¬ 
cerned.  For  science  is  cosmopolitan,  as  it  were,  and  omnivorous, 
and  facts  from  whatever  source,  and  of  whatever  kind,  are  greedily 
absorbed  to  form  a  part  of  the  grand  structure  of  human  knowl¬ 
edge,  whether  the}^  come  from  efforts  made  at  leisure  and  in  the 
quiet  of  the  study  or  private  laboratory,  or  whether  they  are  de¬ 
veloped  in  the  struggle  for  existence  and  the  daily  bread. 

In  its  earlier  development,  substantially  beginning  with  the  pres¬ 
ent  century,  chemistry  was  the  newest  of  the  physical  sciences. 
It  grew  up  out  of  the  empiricism  of  the  preceding  centuries  and 
had  its  foundation  in  the  facts  to  be  found  in  the  daily  practice  of 
those  engaged  in  the  endeavor  t^  meet  the  demands  of  the  current 
needs.  As  civilization  progresses,  culture  extends,  demands  con¬ 
sequently  grow,  and  it  is  one  of  the  inevitable  laws  of  sociology 
and  political  economy,  as  of  nature,  that  these  demands  shall  be 
met.  To  meet  them  human  ingenuity  must  be  taxed  for  the  de¬ 
termination  of  methods  and  means  ;  and  whether  it  be  to  secure 
immediately  useful  results  or  to  establish  more  abstract  truths, 
intellectual  endeavor  is  required,  knowledge  must  be  increased, 
and  science  therefore  advanced.  Literature  is  filled  with  descrip¬ 
tion  of  the  service  which  the  science  of  chemistry  has  rendered  to 
the  industries  and  the  commercial  world,  and  the  development  of 
the  tar  color  industry  is  the  favorite  example  of  this  so  frequently 
cited.  History,  so  far  as  it  is  wu’itten,  for  the  most  part  deals  with 
the  subject  from  this  standpoint.  But  it  may  properly  be  ques¬ 
tioned  whether  the  industry  was  wholly  the  outcome  of  scientific 
research  or  whether  science  received  much,  at  least,  of  its  inspira¬ 
tion,  its  suggestion,  its  original  material  from  the  industry  already 
developed  in  an  intensely  empirical  way.  It  is  this  side  of  the 
question  that  Avill  occupy  us  at  the  present  time  and  we  shall  en- 


ADDRESS  BY  WILLIAM  MCMURTRIE. 


3 


deavor  to  call  attention  to  some  of  the  influences  which  operate 
from  one  side  or  the  other  to  bring  about  the  results  indicated  and 
to  the  reciprocal  influences  which  flow  from  the  results  themselves. 

The  true  fundamental  principles  of  the  science  were  not  devel¬ 
oped  and  set  forth  through  the  classic  researches  and  deductions  of 
the  great  leaders,  Dalton,  Priestley,  Cavendish,  Black,  Wenzel, 
Richter,  Lavoisier,  Gay  Lussac,  Avogadro,  Dulong  and  Petit  until 
the  close  of  the  last  and  the  earlier  years  of  the  present  century. 
But  even  before  the  beginning  of  the  last  century  the  rapid  prog¬ 
ress  of  civilization  and  culture  in  other  lines  had  made  demands 
for  the  products  of  the  chemical  arts  and  they  were  met  in  ways 
that  were  empirical  it  is  true,  but  by  reactions  which  were  as  pos¬ 
itive  then  as  they  are  now,  even  though  they  were  unknown,  and 
they  furnished  fertile  food  for  study  and  speculation  on  the  part  of 
the  philosophers  in  fields  quite  new  to  them,  led  them  out  from  the 
libi'aries  of  the  monasteries  to  the  active  work  of  the  l)usy  world, 
furnished  them  with  facts  for  collaboration  and  classification,  from 
which  tliey  were  amply  able  to  construct  the  hypotheses  and  build 
up  the  theories  which  have  been  of  so  much  value  to  the  civilized 
world.  During  the  entire  century  the  industries  thrived  and  grew, 
met  the  demands  put  upon  them  and  brought  about  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  facts  that  long  since  were  recorded  as  new  discoveries. 

The  acknowledged  fathers  of  the  science  of  chemistry,  although 
eminent  scholars  and  connected  with  the  institutions  of  learning, 
were  many,  if  not  most  of  them,  directly  interested  iu  the  manu¬ 
facture  of  chemical  products,  and  by  their  general  education  and 
higher  intelligence  were  enabled  to  contribute  to  their  material  ad¬ 
vancement.  At  the  period  in  which  these  men  lived  and  w'orked, 
these  industries  could  with  difficulty  meet  the  demands  of  the  ad¬ 
vancing  civilization,  and  that  they  were  profitable  then,  even  as 
they  were  later,  we  may  learn  from  the  experience  and  writings 
of  Chaptal,^  who  was  turned  from  the  profession  of  teaching  to 
establish  at  Montpellier,  as  he  tells  us,  large  works  for  the  manu¬ 
facture  of  sulphuric,  nitric,  muriatic  and  oxalic  acids,  alum, 
copperas,  sal  ammoniac,  sal  saturn,  white  lead  and  the  prepara¬ 
tions  of  lead,  mercury,  etc.  He  declares  that  he  had  made 
“  mountains  of  alum  without  being  able  to  crystallize  it,”  until  he 
had,  through  the  analysis  of  Roman  alum,  determined  the  presence 
of  potash  in  the  crystallized  product.  And  in  order  that  he  might 

1  La  Vie  et  I’Oeuvre  de  Chaptal.  p.  31. 


I 


4  SECTION  C. 

have  proper  apparatus  for  his  works  he  undertook  the  manufacture 
of  the  porcelain  and  pottery  he  required.  A  little  later  he  became 
interested  in  dyeing  and  calico  printing  in  a  commercial  way.  How 
profitable  this  manufacture  was  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that 
after  the  political  reverses  which  brought  about  his  deposition  from 
the  public  life  in  Paris  which  had  consumed  his  entire  fortune,  he 
returned  to  his  manufacture  at  Montpellier  and  in  a  single  year 
realized  from  it  a  handsome  net  profit  of  350,000  francs.  He  fur¬ 
ther  relates  that,  encouraged  by  his  success,  other  chemists  of 
France  established  large  manufacturing  works  and  entered  into 
their  management.  He  was  closely  associated  with  Lavoisier, 
Berthollet,^  Monge,  Fourcroy,  Carny,  Vandermonde,  Guyton  de 
Morveau  and  others  in  the  manufacture  of  gunpowder  near  Paris, 
and  his  memoirs  show  that  during  his  residence  at  Montpellier  he 
was  in  constant  correspondence  with  the  chemists  of  Paris  and  else¬ 
where.  Dubrunfaut^  states  that  at  the  instigation  of  the  Comptroller 
General  Turgot,  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Paris  offered  a  prize 
in  1776  for  the  invention  of  a  method  for  the  production  of  niter 
and  that  Stahl  and  Lavoisier  did  not  disdain  to  take  an  interest 
in  the  subject  of  the  prize.  It  amounted  to  £3000  and  was  awarded 
to  Thouvenel  who  was  required,  we  are  told,  to  justify  experimen¬ 
tally  the  theory  of  Lavoisier.  At  that  time  Lavoisier  was  director 
of  the  Royal  Saltpeter  Works.  Berthollet  was  interested  in  bleach¬ 
ing  and  dyeing,  suggested  the  use  of  chlorine  for  the  former  and 
in  1791  published  a  work  entitled  Elements  of  the  Art  of  Dyeing. 
Guyton  de  Morveau^was  devoted  to  analytical  and  technical  chem¬ 
istry  and  among  other  things  he  founded  saltpeter  works  in  1773 
and  soda  works  in  1783. 

Much  of  the  work,  therefore,  not  only  of  Chaptal  but  of  other 
chemists  of  his  time,  was  doubtless  done  in  response  to  demands 
made  upon  them  by  the  exigencies  of  the  manufactures,  but  how 
many  of  the  results  they  communicated  to  the  journals  and  learned 
societies  flowed  directly  therefrom  we  are  not  told.  Certainly  they 
could  not  have  failed  to  study  closely  the  phenomena  thus  offered 
for  theii’  observation  and  which  in  many  respects  could  not  have 
been  as  efficiently  exhibited  in  any  other  way. 

So  also,  as  we  are  told  by  Meyer^  and  other  historians,  the  earlier 

>  Le  Sucre.  II.  95.  Note. 

2  Schaedler,  Handworterbuch  der  Wissenscliaftlich  bedewteuden  Cheuiiker. 

2  GeBchicbte  der  Cheniie.  Zweite  A  ullage  1895. 


ADDRESS  BY  WILLIAM  MCMURTRIE.  5 

contributors  to  the  new  science,  Boyle,  Kunkel,  Bergmann,  Scheele, 
Margraff,  Macquer,  Duhamel  and  others,  were  largely  devoted  to 
the  development  of  certain  chemical  processes  in  the  industries. 
With  all  these  men,  the  other  great  leaders  of  the  science  were 
closely  associated  ;  the  problems  constantly  arising  and  the  results 
obtained  in  their  solution  were  doubtless  subjects  of  frequent  dis¬ 
cussion  and  led  them  to  profitable  study,  regarding  them  and  the 
fundamental  and  natural  laws  upon  which  they  were  based.  And 
what  was  true  of  that  earlier  period  of  the  history  is  true  to-day 
and  to  an  increasing  degree  must  find  illustration  in  future  work. 
The  industries  are  still  pushing  forward  with  earnest  competition 
to  supply  the  demands  which  grow  with  the  years,  and  tlie  hard 
questions  which  come  from  managers  and  proprietors  to  profes¬ 
sional  men  are  as  numei’ous  and  as  difficult  in  their  way  as  those 
which  puzzled  the  early  philosophers  and  stimulate  an  earnestness 
in  endeavor  and  investigation  that  brings  the  highest  and  most  use¬ 
ful  results.  We  must  admit  that  without  these  hard  questions  the 
advances  in  the  science  itself  would  be  less  rapid  and  the  intellect¬ 
ual  activities  of  investigators  less  alert.  - 

Beautiful  illustrations  of  the  results  growing  out  of  such  demands 
are  everywhere  to  be  seen  at  the  present  day  even  as  they  were  in 
former  years,  although  they  are  not  often  to  be  found  recorded  in 
the  pages  of  published  history.  Many  of  us  will  remember  the 
incident  cited  by  Hoffmann*  in  his  necrological  notice  of  Dumas  de¬ 
scribing  the  circumstances  which  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  ab¬ 
sorption  of  chlorine  by  organic  bodies,  in  which  he  declares  that 
“it  is  not  generally  known  that  the  theory  of  substitution  owes  its 
source  to  a  soiree  in  the  Tuileries.”  Dumas  had  been  called  upon 
by  his  father-in-law,  Alexander  Broguiart,  who  was  director  of  the 
Sevres  Porcelain  Works,  and  as  Hoffmann  says,  in  a  measure  a 
member  of  the  royal  household,  to  examine  into  the  cause  of  the 
irritating  vapors  from  candles  burned  in  the  ballroom,  a  demand  to 
which  Dumas  readily  acceded,  because  he  had  already  done  some 
work  upon  the  examination  of  wax  which  could  not  be  bleached 
and  was  therefore  unmerchantable.  He  was  readily  led  to  the  con¬ 
clusion  that  the  candles  used  in  the  palace  had  been  made  with  wax 
which  had  been  bleached  with  chlorine  and  that  the  vapors  were 
hydrochloric  acid  generated  in  the  burning  of  the  candles.  But 
examination  of  the  wax  of  the  candles  showed  that  the  quantity 


1  Berichte  der  Deutscheu  Chemischen  Geeellschaft.  17.  R.  667. 


6 


SECTION  C. 


of  chlorine  found  was  greater  than  could  be  accounted  for  by  its 
presence  as  a  mechanical  impurity  and  from  it  Dumas  was  led  to 
experiments  which  showed  that  many  organic  substances  when 
heated  with  chlorine  have  the  power  to  fix  it,  and  from  these  re¬ 
sults  he  was  in  turn  led  to  the  further  generalization  concerning  the 
law  of  substitution.  In  this  connection  Hoffmann  says,  “This 
information  upon  the  origin  of  substitution,  which  the  author  of 
this  sketch  had  from  the  mouth  of  Dumas  himself,  is  more  than  an 
interesting  incident.  We  frequently  see  that  like  the  Luxembourg 
palace,  the  Tuileries,  besides  their  historical  legends  have  likewise 
scientific  memories.  How  wonderful !  A  ray  of  sunlight  reflected 
from  the  window  of  Luxembourg  and  accidentally  seen  by  Malus 
through  a  plate  of  calcspar,  revealed  to  him  the  phenomenon  of 
double  refraction,  adding  a  new  province  to  the  domain  of  physics  ; 
while  the  acid  vapors  from  a  smoking,  burning  caudle  in  the  ball 
room  of  the  Tuileries  led  Dumas  to  study  the  influence  of  chlorine 
upon  organic  bodies  and  finally  led  him  to  speculation  upon  this 
action  which  for  many  years  had  controlled  the  science  and  even 
to-day  has  a  mighty  influence  upon  its  development.” 

It  would  be  difficult  to  follow  Dumas  through  the  hundreds  of 
investigations  he  made  in  all  the  fields  of  chemical  activity,  clear¬ 
ing  up  the  questions  arising  in  the  various  occupations  of  daily 
life  and  in  all  its  departments,  even  as  it  would  that  of  other  men 
active  in  progressive  work.  Much  of  the  work  of  Dumas,  as  shown 
by  Hoffmann  and  the  published  i-ecords,  was  devoted  to  the  solu¬ 
tion  of  such  questions,  and  much  of  his  inspiration  was  drawn  from 
them.  It  was  an  incident  similar  to  that  already  described,  that 
brought  Dumas  to  the  reaction  whereby  hydrogen  sulphide  may  be 
oxidized  to  sulphuric  acid.  He  found  the  walls  of  one  of  the  bath 
rooms  at  Aix  les  Bains  covered  with  crystals  of  calcium  sulphate 
which  could  have  no  other  source  than  the  vapors  liberated  from 
the  hot  water.  No  trace  of  sulphuric  acid  could  be  found  in  the 
atmosphere  of  the  room.  The  portieres  of  the  room  soon  acquired 
an  acid  reaction  which  proved  to  be  due  to  sulphuric  acid.  Dumas 
concluded  that  the  combination  of  hydrogen  sulphide  with  oxj^gen 
had  occurred  upon  the  wall  itself,  the  porous  surface  exercising  an 
influence  similar  to  that  of  platinum  black  upon  hydrogen  and 
oxygen.  And  subsequent  investigation  showed  that  when  air, 
steam  and  hydrogen  sulphide  are  passed  over  porous  substances  at 
from  40°  to  50°  C.  and  still  better  at  80°  to  90°,  sulphuric  acid  is 


ADDRESS  BY  WILLIAM  MCMURTRIE. 


7 


quickly  formed  without  intermediate  formation  of  sulphurous  acid 
or  separation  of  sulphur. 

Similar  instances  are  set  forth  by  Ilotf  inann,^ — who  seems  to  have 
recognized  the  value  of  the  influences  we  here  have  in  mind  —  in  his 
necrological  address  upon  Liebig,  whose  well-known  devotion  to 
the  industries  and  their  advancement  is  so  familiar  and  interesting. 
Hoffmann  says  “  no  branch  of  chemical  industry  has  failed  either 
directly  or  indirectly  to  receive  benefit  from  Liebig’s  works.”  He 
calls  attention  to  the  study  of  the  fat  and  acetic  acid  industries 
and  declares  that  the  key  to  their  peculiar  operations  is  of  his 
making,  that  the  preparation  of  the  prussiates  and  fulminates,  the 
manufacture  of  the  cyanides,  the  production  of  the  silver  mirror, 
were  the  result  of  Liebig’s  work.  His  interest  in  the  problems  of 
agriculture  and  of  the  nutrition  of  plants  and  animals,  of  physiol¬ 
ogy  and  pathology,  led  him  not  only  to  the  development  of  many 
new  industries,  but  to  the  establishment  of  many  of  the  truths  of 
science  as  well.  His  method  for  the  production  of  artificial  foods 
and  concentrated  animal  extracts  were  not  the  smallest  of  his 
contributions  to  the  industry,  and  the  possibilities  of  their' value 
and  wide  application  in  turn  led  to  further  investigation.  Mej^er,^ 
quoting  from  Hoffmann,  says,  “  if  we  could  hold  up  to  view  all  that 
Liebig  has  done  for  the  well  being  of  the  human  race  in  the  indus¬ 
tries,  in  agriculture  or  in  the  promotion  of  health,  one  can  scarcely 
declare  that  any  other  scholar  of  his  time  has  left  a  richer  legacy 
to  mankind.” 

And  what  Hoffmann  has  said  of  Liebig  is  also  applicable  to  him¬ 
self,  for  in  many  respects  he  rivalled  Liebig  in  his  intelligent  com¬ 
prehension  of  commercial  and  industrial  needs  and  their  value  in 
suggesting  new  and  fruitful  lines  of  work.  No  question  could  be 
proposed  to  him  that  had  not  for  him  some  germs  of  useful  thought 
and  it  was  the  ntilization  of  such  possibilities  as  came  to  him  in  this 
way  that  made  him  great.  His  genius  for  this  will  be  illustrated 
in  connection  with  the  incidents  in  the  coal  tar  color  industry 
which  show  the  relation  of  that  great  branch  of  human  endeavor  to 
the  subject  in  hand. 

It  seems  to  make  little  difference  to  -which  branch  of  chemical 
work  we  turn  for  illustrations  of  the  ideas  just  presented.  The 
enormous  losses  suffered  by  Italy  and  France  by  the  diseases  of  the 

*  Hoffmann.  Berichte  der  Deutschen  Cliemischen  Gesellschaft,  vi,  467. 

2  Gescliichte  der  Chemie.  231. 


8 


SECTION  C. 


silk  worm,  the  deterioration  of  the  wines  and  the  diseases  of  farm 
animals,  made  demands  upon  the  genius  of  Pasteur,  and  through 
his  brilliant  work  and  magnificent  results  attention  has  been  di¬ 
rected  to  the  field  of  bacteriology  and  fermentation,  and  almost  a 
new  science  has  been  built  upon  it.  What  a  mass  of  material  has 
through  this  one  branch  of  work  been  added  to  the  sum  of  human 
knowledge  and  what  an  impetus  has  it  given  to  the  advancement 
of  science  !  The  industries  demanded  relief  from  their  losses,  but 
the  path  to  that  relief  is  strewn  with  facts  which  have  been  utilized 
for  the  establishment  of  new  principles  ;  and  the  new  principles,  ex¬ 
tended  to  the  other  industries,  have  widened  still  further  the  field 
and  led  to  the  study  of  the  products  developed  in  the  growth  and 
nutrition  of  the  lower  organisms,  with  results,  the  spread  of  whose 
influence  it  would  be  difficult  to  define. 

Some  of  us  will  remember  that  a  little  more  than  a  decade  ago, 
many  of  the  leading  chemists  of  this  country  were  called  upon  to 
settle  a  commercial  dispute  in  Chicago,  turning  upon  the  question 
of  an  admixture  of  fats  in  the  adulteration  of  lards  and  that,  on 
account  of  the  lack  of  knowledge  then  prevailing  regarding  the 
exact  constitution  and  reactions  of  various  fats,  it  was  impossible 
to  arrive  at  satisfactory  conclusions  with  regard  to  the  mixtures 
submitted.  It  was  embarrassing  for  chemists  to  admit  the  weak¬ 
ness,  but  it  nevertheless  had  useful  results.  Since  that  time  the 
development  of  knowledge  concerning  these  products  has  been  such 
that  it  is  possible  readily  to  determine  in  many  cases,  not  only  the 
components  of  such  admixtures  but  even  the  quantity  of  each  com¬ 
ponent  present. 

Such  illustrations  in  increasing  numbers  will  occur  to  every  one 
who  may  consider  the  history  of  the  science  and  the  industries  from 
this  point  of  view.  The  coal  tar  color  industry,  which  has  so  fre¬ 
quently  been  cited  and  described  as  the  direct  outcome  of  scientific 
investigation,  will  serve  admirably  to  illustrate  further  the  relations 
we  are  considering.  No  one  of  the  industries  has  been  so  rapid  in 
growth  or  has  attracted  the  same  degree  of  attention  from  both 
scientists  and  technologists,  or  has  had  so  wide  an  influence  upon 
the  progress  of  the  other  industries  and  scientific  work*  A  brief 
review  of  the  conditions  of  its  development  from  the  standpoint 
of  this  discussion  will  be  of  interest  and  will  serve  to  show  how 
much  the  purely  scientific  side  of  chemistry  may  be  found  to  owe 
to  the  development  of  the  technical  side. 


ADDRESS  BY  WILLIAM  MCMURTRIE.  9 

The  origin  of  the  crude  product  of  this  industry,  the  manufacture 
of  gas,  is  comparatively  modern,  'riiough  it  was' known  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  last  century  it  did  not  find  extensive  application 
permanently  until  between  1830  and  1835.  But  from  the  time  of 
its  first  extended  application,  its  by-product,  tar,  became  a  trouble¬ 
some  nuisance  and  many  endeavors  were  made  on  all  sides  to  find 
some  means  for  its  disposition  and  utilization.  It  was  consumed 
by  burning,  it  was  boiled  down  in  open  vessels  and  its  residues 
used  as  preservative  paint  for  wood  and  metals  ;  its  lighter  and  more 
volatile  products  were  subsequently  collected  by  condensation  and 
put  upon  the  market  as  a  solvent  for  fats,  waxes,  rubber,  etc.,  and 
was  so  used  in  the  manufacture  of  varnishes.  According  to  Lunge, ^ 
Accum  was  the  first  to  boil  tar  down  in  close  vessels  and  thus  ob¬ 
tain  volatile  oil  which  could  be  used  as  a  cheap  substitute  for  tur¬ 
pentine.  Dr.  Longstaff  declares  that,  in  conjunction  with  Dr. 
Dalston,  he  erected  the  first  distillery  for  coal  tar  in  1822  near 
Leith,  and  that  the  spirits  obtained  were  sent  to  Mr.  Mackintosh, 
while  the  residue  was  used  for  making  lampblack.  Roscoe  states 
that  the  distillation  was  carried  on  near  Manchester  in  1834,  the 
naphtha  obtained  being  used  for  making  black  varnish  with 
the  pitch.  So  that  the  lighter  distillates  had  been  furnished  to  the 
markets  some  years  before  Mansfield  began,  in  1847,  the  distillation 
of  the  lighter  oils  to  obtain  products  which  might  be  used  for 
lighting  purposes.  It  was  in  the  course  of  this  work  that  he  de¬ 
termined  the  composition  of  the  lighter  oils  in  the  market  and  found 
that  they  contaiped  considerable  quantity  of  benzene,  a  fact  discov¬ 
ered  by  Hoffmann  two  years  before.  Supplies  for  the  subsequent 
uses  in  the  color  industry  were  therefore  possible. 

It  may  be  observed  here  that  the  discovery  of  this  compound  by 
the  dry  distillation  of  coal,  de  novo^  in  the  laboratory,  would  have 
been  practically  impossible^  since,  according  to  Perkin, ^  100  lbs.  of 
coal  yields  only  0.85  oz.  of  coal  tar  naphtha,  and  0.275  oz.  of 
benzene.  The  operations  of  the  industry  carried  out  on  a  large 
scale  are  necessary  to  this”*,  and  such  operations  we  know  and  shall 
see  have  furnished  to  those  working  in  purely  scientific  lines  ma¬ 
terials  for  study  which  has  given  the  most  important  results  and 
without  which  many  of  the  relations  would  still  be  unknown. 

1  Lunge.  Coal  Tar  and  Ammonia.  189. 

2  Compare  Roscoe  and  Schorlemmer,  Treatise  on  Chemistry,  iii.  pt.  iii.  51. 

3  Jour.  Soc.  Arts,  1869,  101. 

*  Compare  Hoffmann.  Jour.  Soc.  Arts,  1863,  647. 


10 


SECTION  C. 


But  to  proceed.  With  the  commercial  production  of  benzene,  its 
derivative  nitrobenzene  was  readily  obtained  in  large  quantiths.  It 
had  been  made,  it  is  true,  years  before  b}^  Mitscherlich  in  1834,  from 
benzene  of  benzoic  acid,  and  by  Laurent  a  little  later  by  the  action 
of  nitric  acid  upon  light  oil  of  tar.  Collas,  a  French  pharmacist, 
made  it  in  1848  in  a  large  way  in  Paris  and  later  Mansfield  took 
up  its  manufacture  from  the  product  of  his  stills,  putting  it  on  the 
market  as  artificial  oil  of  bitter  almonds,  or  oil  of  Mirbane,  to  be 
used  in  scenting  soap. 

vSo  aniline  which  Unverdorben  produced  in  1826  by  dry  distilla¬ 
tion  of  indigo  and  called  krystallin,  and  Runge  first  separated 
from  coal  tar  by  treating  it  with  hydrochloric  acid  in  1834  and  called 
bhiudl,  and  Fritsche  produced  by  digestion  of  indigo  with  potash 
and  distillation  of  the  product  in  1840  and  called  aiiilin,  and 
Zinin  produced  in  1842  by  reduction  of  nitrobenzene  with  ammo¬ 
nium  sulphide  and  called  benzidam,  remained  a  scientific  curiosity 
the  true  constitution  of  which  was  not  fully  determined  until  some 
years  after  it  had  been  produced  by  Bechamp  by  reduction  of  coal 
tar  nitrobenzene  with  iron  and  acetic  acid  and  Perkin  had  utilized 
it  in  the  manufacture  of  mauve. 

And  so  the  way  for  Perkin  had  been  prepared.  Both  the  in¬ 
dustry  and  the  science,  so  far  as  they  had  been  able,  had  done  their 
share :  the  industry,  by  efforts  at  the  utilization  of  the  products 
at  hand  and  showing  possible  commercial  profit ;  the  science,  in  the 
struggle  after  new  compounds.  The  spirit  of  the  iatro-  chemists 
still  prevailed  and  substantial  benefits  fiowed  from  it  as  of  old. 
Perkin^  in  an  effort  to  produce  a  compound  valuable  .and  scarce  in 
the  market  and  to  effect  the  synthesis  of  quinine,  produced  aniline 
purple  or  mauve  instead.  Starting  out,  as  he  says,  with  the  con¬ 
sideration  of  the  empirical  formula  he  concluded  that  by  the  oxida¬ 
tion  of  allyl-toluidine  he  might  attain  his  end.  Describing  his 
experiment  he  says :  “  For  this  purpose  I  mixed  the  neutral  sul¬ 
phate  of  allyl-toluidine  with  bichromate  of  potassium,  but  instead 
of  quinine  I  obtained  only  a  reddish  brown  precipitate.  Never- 
theless  being  anxious  to  know  more  about  this  curious  reaction,  I 
proceeded  to  examine  a  more  simple  body  under  similar  circum¬ 
stances.  For  this  purpose,  I  treated  the  sulphate  of  aniline  with 
bichromate  of  potassium.  The  mixture  produced  nothing  but  an 
unpromising  black  precipitate  ;  but,  on  investigating  this  precipi- 


1  Cheniiciil  News,  1861.  Ml. 


ADDRESS  BY  WILLIAM  MCMURTRIE. 


11 


tale,  I  found  it  to  be  the  substance  which  is  now,  1  may  say,  a 
commercial  necessity.”  Perkin  treated  the  black  precipitate  with 
dilferent  solvents  in  the  study  of  its  properties  and  found  it  to 
yield  to  alcohol  a  colored  solution.  With  more  of  the  inventive 
and  commercial  spirit  than  prevailed  with  his  illustrious  teacher  in 
whose  laboratory  he  was  working,  he  at  once  began  experiments  to 
determine  whether  this  new  color,  so  benutiful  in  its  hues,  could  be 
fixed  upon  textile  fibers,  and  succeeded  in  dyeing  a  strand  of  silk 
with  it  without  the  aid  of  any  mordant  whatsoever.  He  promptly 
submitted  his  discovery  to  Puller  of  Perth  who  tried  the  color  in  a 
larger  way,  proving  its  commercial  value.  The  patents  were 
secured  and  Perkin  at  once  devoted  himself  to  the  industrial  pro¬ 
duction  of  the  color  and,  after  more  or  less  difficulty,  always  inci¬ 
dent  to  the  manufacture  of  a  new  substance,  he  attained  commercial 
success.  The  tar  color  industry  was  launched  ;  it  was  immensely 
profitable ;  it  furnished  incentive  to  further  investigation  and  ex¬ 
periment  in  similar  lines,  a  new  field  was  opened  up,  and  what  a 
flood  of  results  has  come  from  it.  In  them  both  empiricism  and 
rationalism  have  been  represented,  and  the  addition  to  the  number 
of  new  substances,  whose  properties  and  constitution  have  been 
essential  to  the  establishment  of  new  theories  and  new  laws  has 
been  enormous,  and  unprecedented  in  all  the  history  of  chemical 
work.  The  search  after  the  production  of  a  commercial  product, 
yielded  accidentally  as  it  were,  and  almost  empirically,  the  seed 
from  which  this  great  and  flourishing  tree  has  sprung. 

For  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  after  Perkin  had  obtained  his 
oxidation  product  of  aniline  and  had  found  that  some  portion  of 
it  was  colored  and  could  be  applied  to  the  dyeing  of  fabrics,  his 
study  of  its  properties  ended  for  the  time  being  and  it  was  not 
until  1863  that  he  was  able  to  take  up  this  subject  and  follow  it  to 
conclusion,  establishing  the  constitution  of  the  new  compound. 

The  history  of  the  coal  tar  color  industry  is  full  of  examples  of 
the  production  of  new  substances  and  new  reactions  by  the  indus¬ 
try  of  the  highest  importance  to  the  advancement  of  knowledge  in 
the  domain  of  chemistry  and  to  the  development  of  the  great  theo¬ 
ries  to  which,  in  turn,  much  of  progress  both  in  science  and  tech¬ 
nology  has  been  due.  In  this  connection  one  may  study,  with 
profit  and  interest,  the  very  able  address  of  H.  Caro^  before  the 
Berlin  Chemical  Society,  on  the  subject  of  the Development  of 


1  Berichte  der  Deutschen  Chemischen  Gesellschaft.  25.  R.  955. 


12 


SECTION  C. 


the  Coal  Tar  Color  Industry.”  While  very  properly  giving  the  full¬ 
est  credit  for  the  scientific  or  rational  work  done  in  this  connection 
and  the  applications  of  it  in  the  industries,  he  shows  many  exam¬ 
ples  of  the  important  results  attained  by  technical  or  empirical 
methods  and  of  the  highest  interest  and  value  to  the  science.  He 
calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  C.  E.  Nicholson  suggested  to  Hoff¬ 
mann  that  pure  aniline  would  not  yield  aniline  red,  and  that  it  was 
not  the  true  agent  for  the  production  of  this  compound.  A  gallon 
of  aniline  with  a  constant  boiling  point  of  220°  C.  sent  to  Hoffmann 
by  Nicholson  gave  such  a  result ;  while  a  sample  of  the  ordinary 
aniline  of  commerce,  and  boiling  at  from  182°  to  220°  yielded  an 
abundant  quantity  of  color.  From  this  Hoffmann  concluded  that 
the  commercial  aniline  contained  a  second  base  which,  together  with 
aniline  and  homologous  with  it,  entered  into  the  reaction  to  pro¬ 
duce  the  regular  result.  But  Hoffmann^  declared  that,  if  such  an 
admixture  of  bases  existed,  their  separation  by  any  other  than 
operations  on  a  large  scale  would  be  out  of  the  question,  a  condi¬ 
tion  found  by  other  investigators.  Nicholson  had  already  sug¬ 
gested  the  presence  of  toluidine  in  the  mixture.  Hoffmann  tried 
making  the  color  with  pure  toluidine  from  tolu  balsam  sent  him  by 
Muspratt  and  found  that  this  too  gave  a  negative  result.  But 
upon  mixing  the  pure  aniline  from  Nicholson  in  proper  proportions 
with  the  pure  toluidine  from  Muspratt,  the  proportions  correspond¬ 
ing  with  one  molecule  of  benzene  to  two  molecules  of  toluene  the 
red  color  was  promptly  produced.  In  this  connection  Hoffmann 
said  the  “industry  was  ahead  of  the  science”  and  Caro  said  “  hence 
the  industry  was  not  only  the  generator  of  aniline  red,  but  further- 
it  had  opened  up  the  way  to  the  rational  utilization  of  benzene  and 
more  its  homologues  for  all  present  and  future  uses  of  color  manu¬ 
facture.” 

Artificial  alizarine  has  much  the  same  kind  of  history.  It  was 
developed  by  Graebe  and  Liebermann  by  most  rational  methods 
and  from  the  constitution  and  reactions  of  the  body  itself.  Start- 
ting  with  a  commercial  body,  produced  by  industrial  methods  and 
in  most  empirical  ways,  they  endeavored  to  reproduce  it  by  rational 
synthesis  and  succeeded.  Their  method  through  dibromanthra- 
quinone  was  not,  however,  a  commercial  possibility  and  it  remained 
for  Perkin,  with  his  industrial  experience  and  capacity,  and  his  en¬ 
gineering  skill  combined  with  his  knowledge  of  chemistry,  to  over- 

2  Berichte  der  Deutchen  Cheniisclien  Geeellscliaft.  25,  97(5. 


ADDRESS  BY  WILLIAM  MCMURTRIE. 


13 


come  the  manufacturing  difficulties  and  to  attain  this  end  by  other 
means  and  reactions  than  had  been  proposed  by  Graebe  and  Lieb- 
ermann.  The  process  proposed  by  the  latter  was  precluded  by  the 
high  cost  of  bromine  and  Perkin  replaced  it  by  sulphuric  acid, 
producing  the  anthraquinone  sulphonic  acids  which  yielded  after  the 
melt  the  product  desired.  The  industrial  genius  of  Perkin^  gave  ar¬ 
tificial  alizarine  and  with  it  a  long  series  of  products  and  problems 
for  study  and  solution  by  chemists  everywhere.  It  taught  reac¬ 
tions  that  were  fertile  in  stimulating  new  research  and  established 
facts  that  could  not  be,  or  at  least  were  not,  discovered  in  the 
laboratory.  For  instance  in  the  course  of  the  manufacture,  Perkin 
found  that  when,  as  sometimes  happened,  sulphonation  of  the  an¬ 
thraquinone  was  not  thoroughly  effected  through  insufficient  heat¬ 
ing  or  use  of  too  little  acid,  a  really  better  product  was  obtained 
than  when  the  process  had  proceeded  normally.  He  found  that  in 
the  latter  case  the  color  of  the  resulting  product  was  less  brilliant 
than  when  these  irregular  conditions  prevailed  ;  that,  in  the  latter, 
the  resulting  paste  was  a  mixture  of  colors,  while  with  the  former, 
nearly  pure  alizarine  was  the  result.  Investigation  confirmed  the 
outcome  of  the  practice  and  showed  that  from  the  anthraquinone 
monosulphonic  acid,  only  pure  alizarine  was  produced,  while  from 
the  result  of  higher  sulphonation  a  mixture  of  products  was  se¬ 
cured.  Such  a  discovery  may  have  been  possible  only  in  the  larger 
way  occurring  in  the  works  and  might  have  long  been  overlooked 
in  the  laboratory.  At  any  rate  it  was  brought  out  in  the  industrial 
operation  of  the  reaction,  and  a  new  fact  was  added  to  the  sum  of 
knowledge. 

This  discovery  brought  further  necessity  and  new  invention.  By 
the  ordinary  method  of  sulphonating  then  enployed,  the  monosul¬ 
phonic  acid  could  not  readily  be  produced  and  it  remained  for  Per¬ 
kin  to  advance  both  science  and  technology  still  further  by  the 
determination  of  a  new  process  for  attaining  this  end.  .  He  found^ 
that  dichloranthracene  which  is  easily  made  may  be  as  easily  sul- 
phonated  and  that  the  dichloranthracene  sulphonic  acid  is  readily 
converted  to  the  anthraquinone  sulphonic  acid  by  heating  with  sul¬ 
phuric  acid,  the  final  result  depending  upon  the  degree  of  heat  em¬ 
ployed  in  the  reaction  in  sulphonating  the  dichloranthracene.  He 
had  thus  not  only  advanced  the  industry  in  this  branch  of  manu- 


1  Jour.  Soc.  Arts,  1879,  580. 


2  Jour.  Soc.  Arts,  1879,  577. 


14 


SFCTION  C. 


facture  but  he  had  added  to  the  list  of  reactions  and  compounds  in 
chemistry  as  well. 

Hoffmann  received  from  the  French  color  works  the  queues  d’- 
aniline,  from  which  he  was  able  to  separate  para  toluidine  and  the 
two  new  bases  paraniline  and  paramidophenol.^  Other  products 
from  the  same  residues  enabled  the  great  investigator  to  arrive  at 
a  knowledge  of  the  mode  of  formation  and  structure  of  rosaniline. 
Later  another  French  color-maker  sent  Hoffman  a  well  crystallized 
by-product  which  he  recognized  as  meta-toluylendiamine  which  he, 
together  with  Muspratt  had  endeavored  to  make  by  synthesis. 
He  found  it  to  have  been  undoubtedly  produced  by  the  Bechamp 
method  from  nitrobenzene  contaminated  with  dinitrotoluene. 

In  his  most  interesting  and  valuable  address  from  which  many 
of  these  illustrations  have  been  obtained,  Caro  calls  attention  to 
other  instances  of  contributions  to  the  advancement  of  science  from 
this  great  industry ;  the  use  of  zinc  dust  in  strongly  alkaline  so¬ 
lution  for  the  reduction  of  nitro-bodies  was  worked  out  in  the  fac¬ 
tories  ;  saf ranine  was  produced  technically  several  years  before  its 
structure  and  mode  of  formation  are  made  out  by  Nietzki.  The 
empirical  formation  of  nitro-dracylic  acid  and  naphthylamin  is 
cited  as  furnishing  contributions  to  the  establishment  of  isomerism 
in  the  classes  to  which  they  respectively  belong.  Aniline  blue 
produced  empirically  by  heating  together  fuchsine  and  aniline,  was 
found  later  by  Hoffmann  to  be  triphenylated  rosaniline  and  led  him 
to  the  recognition  that  change  of  color  could  be  produced  by  sub¬ 
stituting  an  alkyl,  phenyl  or  benzyl  radical  for  hydrogen  ;  and  so 
started  the  theory,  now  developed  into  a  law,  that  color  of  com¬ 
pounds  is  a  function  of  structure,  and  that,  in  those  compounds 
having  antifermentive,  therapeutic  or  toxic  action,  the  influence 
will  vary  in  intensity  with  the  position  of  the  radical  in  the  mole¬ 
cule.  Thus  it  has  been  found  that  ortho-cresol  is  less  active  as  an 
antiferment  than  the  meta-compound  while  this  in  turn  is  less  in- 
tence  in  its  action  than  paracresol.  «  Naphthol  is  more  poisonous 
and  more  actively  antiseptic  than  naphthol. 

The  field  of  chemical  work,  here  so  wonderfully  opened  up,  has 
done  much  to  bring  into  closer  contact  and  communion,  the  profes¬ 
sional  men  and  investigators  on  the  one  hand  and  the  practical 
technologists  on  the  other.  Professional  men  find  that  such  union 
furnishes  valuable  material  for  study  and  most  useful  suggestio  n 

1  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  18G3,  312, 

Proc.  Roy.  Soc,  13,  9, 


ADDRESS  BY  WILLIAM  MCMDRTRIE. 


15 


for  work.  As  Hoffmann  says,  “  the  technologist  is  not  likely  to 
leave  long  without  utilization  any  fact  of  science  which  may  be  de¬ 
veloped  and  made  valuable  from  the  technical  side so  we  find 
that  the  benefits  which  flow  from  each  to  each  are  rapidly  increas¬ 
ing  from  year  to  year  and  the  distinction  formerly  made  between 
science  and  technology  is  rapidly  being  broken  down,  and  more 
cordial,  and  therefore  more  useful,  relations  established.  Such  un¬ 
ion  for  progressive  work  was  established  with  profit  to  both  sides 
by  Hoffmann  and  Nicholson,  Graebe  and  Caro,  O.  Fischer  and  E. 
Heppe  and  others,  and  the  example  of  these  authorities  has  been 
followed  by  the  great  manufacturers  in  all  countries  by  the  foun¬ 
dation  in  the  works,  of  well-equipped  laboratories,  intended  not 
only  for  control  of  processes  by  analytical  methods  but  for  the  im¬ 
provement  and  extension  of  processes  by  careful  research  methods 
and  the  discovery  of  new  principles.  OstwakF  has  clearly  set  forth 
the  manner  in  which  technology  and  science  may  work  together  in 
electrical  work,  in  the  various  directions. 

How  rapidly  this  practice  has  grown  will  be  illustrated  by  the 
fact  that  the  great  color  works,  successors  to  Meister  Lucius  and 
Bruning  in  Hochst,  made  in  1890,  1700  to  1800  colors^  and 
employ  3000  persons  including  70  chemists  and  12  engineers. ^ 
K.  Ochler  &  Co.  in  Offenbach  have  300  workmen  and  45  chemists.^ 
Other  works  of  large  capacity  like  the  Badische  Anilin  und  Soda 
Fabrik  of  Ludwigshafen,  Bayer  &  Co.  at  Elbersfeld,  Casella  &  Co. 
in  Frankfurt  am  Main,  likewise  employ  large  numbers  of  edu¬ 
cated  chemists  and  engineers.  This  practice  now  extends  to  most 
of  the  more  important  manufactures.  Its  value  was  early  recog¬ 
nized  in  metallurgy  and  it  has  been  adopted  in  other  lines  As  a 
consequence  a  demand  has  been  made  upon  the  educational  insti¬ 
tutions  and  an  influence  has  been  exerted  upon  the  management 
leading  to  provision  of  better  facilities  for  work  both  in  investiga¬ 
tion  and  instruction. 

In  connection  with  the  working  force  of  the  German  color  fac¬ 
tories,  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  experience  has  led  directors  to 
employ  educated  engineers  alongside  the  research  chemists  and  so 

1  Chemische  Industrie,  1895,  212  from  Zeitschrift  fUr  Electrotechnik  und  Electro, 
chemie,  1894,  81. 

2  Ost.  Lehrbuch  der  Technischen  Chemie. 

3  Grandhomme.  Die  Fabriken  der  Actien-Gesellschaft  Farbwerke  Meister,  Lucius 
und  Bruning. 

*  Dir.  E.  Franck.  Zeitschrift  fiir  Angewandte  Chemie,  1895,  444. 


16 


SECTION  C. 


recognize  the  fact  that  engineering  capacity  is  necessary  to  the 
practical  and  industrial  application  of  chemical  reactions.  These 
reactions  effected  in  the  laboratory  cannot  always  be  obtained  in 
the  works  in  a  large  way  without  the  invention  of  special  apparatus, 
and  frequently  the  most  brilliant  discoveries  in  science  prove  to  be 
nothing  more  than  mere  suggestions  to  the  industries,  doubtful 
stepping  stones  to  new  processes  or  new  products.  The  discoveries 
of  aniline  and  alizarine  are  examples  of  this  principle.  The  am¬ 
monia  soda  reaction  remained  dormant  nearly  half  a  century  until 
it  was  made  practical  through  the  genius  of  Solvay  and  by  means 
which  scarcely  involved  chemical  reactions.  The  Leblanc  soda 
process,  with  its  beautiful  reactions — partly  it  is  true  because  of 
the  political  situation — remained  dormant  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
century  before  the  genius  of  Muspratt  restored  it  to  life.  The 
sugar  industry,  the  conception  of  Margraff  and  Achard,  required 
the  invention  and  construction  of  much  special  apparatus  before  it 
could  develop  into  the  astonishing  dimensions  it  presents  to-day. 
The  Weldon  process  could  be  established  in  the  industry  only  after 
a  most  earnest  struggle  extending  over  three  years,  and  the  final  re¬ 
sult  showed  that  the  complete  reaction  could  be  obtained  only  when 
working  in  the  largest  way. 

The  study  of  the  ultimate  history  of  any  or  all  of  these  indus¬ 
tries  will  show  that,  as  they  grew,  they  made  demands  upon  the  ed¬ 
ucated  men  and  so  both  directly  and  indirectly  contributed  to  the 
sum  of  useful  knowledge  in  nearly  all  its  branches,  chemistry  in¬ 
cluded. 

For  this  reason  the  demand  is  growing  for  a  combination  of 
chemical  and  engineering  knowledge  in  the  same  person.  The  value 
of  this  has  been  noticed  in  the  lives  and  works  of  many  of  the 
leaders  in  chemical  work  and  its  recognition  among  educators  is 
advancing.  This  is  illustrated  in  the  views  of  Victor  Meyer^  ex¬ 
pressed  as  follows  :  “I  coincide  completely  with  Dr.  Lippmann  in 
his  wish  not  only  for  an  extension  of  his  technical  instruction  in 
our  own  university  in  its  present  scope,  but  also  for  the  further  de¬ 
velopment  of  the  same,  and  I  would  add  thereto  the  expression  of 
my  own  opinion  that  instruction  in  technical  drawing  ought  not  to 
be  omitted  in  the  curriculum  of  any  university,  in  which  numerous 
young  chemists  seek  their  education  and  are  likely  ultimately  to 
desire  occupation  in  factories  and  works.”  Similar  expressions 


1  Chemical  News,  1894,  97. 


ADDRESS  BY  WILLIAM  MCMURTRIE. 


17 


have  come  from  other  high  authorities  in  the  field  of  education,  and 
the  wisdom  of  the  establishment  of  the  technical  schools  with  pro¬ 
vision  for  thorough  education  in  all  the  special  branches  that  may 
find  useful  application  in  the  different  industries,  is  thoroughly  con¬ 
firmed. 

Thus  far  no  reference  has  been  made  to  the  influence  of  the  in 
dustries  upon  the  development  of  analytical  chemistry,  and  per¬ 
haps  for  this  there  is  no  need.  It  is  generally  accepted,  or  is  fast 
growing  to  be,  that  it  is  an  integral  part  of  all  technical  work 
involving  any  kind  of  chemical  reactions.  Meyer^  says  “The 
industry  practically  developed  volumetric  analysis.  It  was  first 
used  by  Decroizelles  and  Vauquelin  in  an  empirical  way  in  the 
chemical  industries  wdth  which  they  were  connected  and  was  finally 
developed  rationally  by  Gay  Lussac,  who  brought  it  to  a  state  of 
perfection  not  greatly  improved  upon  in  many  respects.” 

The  industries  of  the  earlier  chemical  history  were  controlled  by 
other  methods  of  analysis  also,  crude,  perhaps,  but  serving_a  use¬ 
ful  purpose  and  forming  the  foundation  of  the  beautiful  systems  in 
use  to-day. 

In  this  particular  the  requirements  of  the  industries  of  the  pres¬ 
ent  day  are  most  exacting.  Technical  methods  as  distinguished 
from  scientific  methods  have  passed  away,  for  with  rapidity  of  op¬ 
eration  that  many  of  the  processes  call  for,  the  utmost  accuracy  must 
likewise  prevail.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the  metallurgical  in¬ 
dustries  in  which  many  of  the  operations  must  be  controlled  by 
analysis  from  hour  to  hour.  So,  too,  the  utmost  accuracy  is  de¬ 
manded  in  all  work  controlling  commercial  operations,  and  fre¬ 
quently  the  investigation  required  to  confirm  the  value  of  these 
so-called  commercial  methods,  or  the  data  upon  which  they  are 
based,  brings  forth  results  both  as  to  quality  and  quantity  that  are 
most  gratifying.  In  at  least  two  cases  that  have  come  to  my 
knowledge  the  directors  of  the  laboratories  of  great  educational  in¬ 
stitutions  made  requests  to  the  directors  of  large  chemical  works, 
asking  for  descriptions  of  the  analytical  methods  in  daily  use  in 
the  works  in  question,  and  the  request  was  of  course  cordially 
granted. 

And  if  the  analytical  methods  of  the  technical  side  are  recognized 
as  of  value,  so  too  are  the  experimental  methods.  In  the  great 
German  chemical  works,  where  large  numbers  of  chemists  are  em- 

1  Geschiclite  der  Cheinie,  339. 

2 


18 


SECTTON  C. 


ployed,  the  force  is  divided  into  “  laboratoriums  Chemiker  ”  and 
betriebs  Chemiker,”  each  class  having  its  appointed  work:^  the 
first  class  devoted  to  the  investigation  of  new  ideas  in  the  smaller 
way  in  the  laboratory,  producing  new  compounds  or  investigating 
new  reactions,  or,  still  further,  controlling  by  analysis  the  operations 
in  the  works  ;  the  second  class  experimenting  in  a  larger  way,  with 
larger  apparatus  and  quantities,  and  even  with  the  normal  factory 
facilities,  with  either  new  principles  deduced  from  the  results  of 
factory  work,  or  with  processes  or  products  worked  out  in  the  labo¬ 
ratory.  The  results  of  this  combination  are  extensive  and  im¬ 
portant  ;  most  of  them  are  covered  by  patents,  it  is  true,  but  they 
are  nevertheless  offered  to  the  world,  soon  became  public  property 
and  add  to  the  store  of  knowledge.  How  much  tliis  really  amounts 
to  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  the  records  show  that  the  works 
of  Fr,  Bayer  &  Co.,  patented  or  described  in  the  first  half  of  1895 
forty-five  processes  and  products,  while  during  the  same  period 
there  were  issued  to  the  house  of  Meister  Lucius  and  Brunning 
thirty-seven  patents.  The  number  of  specifications  for  chemical 
patents^  accepted  in  Germany  from  1889  to  1893  were  respectively, 
4,406,4,680,  5,900,  6,430.  Of  these  patents  Dr.  Freidlander^  says 
“  If  one  could  be  certain  of  the  excellence  of  all  these  compounds, 
a  new  era  in  the  color  industry  would  be  imminent.  Manifestly 
however  even  the  patentees  themselves  find  it  difficult  to  recognize 
instant  practical  value  in  them.  The  numerous  naphthyldiamine, 
amido-naphthol  and  dioxynaphthaline  sulphonic  acids  were  pa¬ 
tented,  not,  indeed  because  a  special  technical  interest  was  claimed 
for  them,  but  only  because  they  were  new  and  it  was  scarcely  possi¬ 
ble  at  once  to  determine  whether  they  would  be  applicable  in  one 
direction  or  another.” 

In  no  direction  has  the  application  of  the  methods  in  the  larger 
way,  either  in  the  laboratory  or  in  the  works  given  richer  yields  in 
new  material  than  in  the  varied  uses  of  the  electric  current  in  chem¬ 
ical  work.  It  has  led  to  the  production  of  new  compounds  or  has 
increased  the  means  for  production  of  old  ones,  and  through  it 
additions  are  constantly  being  made  to  the  store  of  material  of 
such  composition  and  properties  that  they  must  inevitably  lead 
to  further  new  discoveries  or  the  establishment  of  new  principles  or 
laws.  It  has  added  greatly  to  our  knowledge  of  the  reactions  of 

’  Caro.  Bericlite  der  Deutsclicn  Chemigchen  Gesellscliaft,  25.  R.  967. 

2  Cheni.  Zeit.  1894,  136.  •’  Cheni.  Zeit.  1894, 1184. 


ADDRESS  BY  WILLIAM  MCMDRTRIE. 


19 


oxidation  and  reduction  and  has  made  new  applications  of  those 
phenomena  possible.  In  this  connection  we  may  refer  to  the  proc¬ 
esses  of  Iloepfner  and  of  Siemens  and  Ilalske  for  the  extraction 
of  copper  from  its  solutions  whereby  as  the  metal  is  removed  from 
the  solution  at  the  cathode,  the  reduced  salts  are  oxidized  at  the 
anode,  and  the  solutions  thus  brought  to  the  higher  state  of  oxida¬ 
tion  are  ready  for  use  on  new  portions  of  ore.^  Similar  reactions 
occur  in  the  new  process  of  Ldwenherz  for  the  production  of  sodium 
persulphate,  a  compound  new  to  chemistry  and  resulting  from  tlie 
application  of  electricity  on  a  scale  more  extended  than  is  usually 
employed  for  laboratory  work.  Sulphuric  acid  and  sodium  sulphate 
solutions,  separated  by  a  porous  diaphragm  are  electrolyzed  with 
the  anode  immersed  in  the  sodium  sulphate.  The  resulting  com¬ 
pound  is  comparatively  unstable,  yielding  up  its  oxygen  with  the 
production  of  acid  sodium  sulphate.  And  since  this  latter  may 
readily  be  neutralized  by  sodium  carbonate,  the  new  compound  is 
recommended  for  all  uses  to  which  oxidation  may  be  applied:'^ 

With  the  production  of  hypochlorites  and  the  chlorates  we  are 
already  familiar.  It  grows  rapidly  with  the  cheapening  of  artificial 
power  or  the  utilization  of  natural  power,  until  eventually  the 
world’s  demand  for  them  must  be  covered  by  materials  from  this 
source.  The  reaction  necessary  to  this  is  further  utilized  in  the 
production  of  such  compounds  as  chloral,  iodized  phenol  and  other 
similar  substances.^ 

In  the  field  of  reductions  reference  may  with  interest  be  made 
to  the  late  discoveries  of  Gattermann  and  the  color  works  of  Fr. 
Bayer  &  Co.,  that  electrolysis  is  readily  applied  to  the  production 
of  a  large  number  of  compounds  not  heretofore  produced  techni¬ 
cally  but  for  which  technical  uses  constantly  exist.  Their  earlier 
discovery  of  the  application  of  electrolysis  to  tlie  reduction  of  ni¬ 
trobenzene  to  amido-phenol  with  intermediate  production  of  phenyl- 
hydro  xylamine  finds  wider  application  than  they  at  first  supposed 
and  will  doubtless  constitute  the  starting  point  of  a  new  line  of 
syntheses  of  the  carbon  compounds.'^  This  reaction  is  similar  to 
that  of  zinc  dust  in  alkaline  solutions,  preferably  in  alcohol  con¬ 
taining  calcium  chloride  whereby,  as  noticed  by  Wohl  and  Bam- 

1  Zeitschrift  fur  Angewandte  Cliemie,  1893. 

2  Zeitschrift  fur  Angewandte  Cheniie,  1895,  349. 

3  Ohem,  Zeit.  xix.  <  Chem.  Zeit.  xix,  1111. 


20 


SECTION  C. 


ber^er,  phenylhydroxylamine  is  produced  instead  of  the  aniline 
produced  by  the  reduction  with  acetic  acid  and  iron. 

The  electrical  smelting  furnace  has  opened  up  a  wide  field  of  ex¬ 
periment  and  investigation  as  fascinating  as  it  is  new,  and  it  is  to 
be  expected  that  many  additions  will  be  made  to  the  list  of  new 
substances  through  its  use.  The  increased  production  of  chromium 
and  the  crystallization  of  carbon  by  Moissan,^  the  production  of 
carborundum  by  Acheson,  the  production  of  the  various  carbides 
by  iMoissan,  Willson,  Borcher  and  others  are  of  great  interest  from 
both  the  technical  and  scientific  side.  Whether  the  calcium  carbide, 
which  has  been  so  much  discussed  and  seems  such  a  valuable  mate¬ 
rial  for  the  production  of  acetylene,  will  at  once  take  and  hold  the 
high  position  assigned  to  it  by  its  inventors  is  still  an  open  ques¬ 
tion.  But  whether  it  sfiall  find  extended  application  in  the  indus¬ 
tries  or  not,  whether  it  will  prove  too  expensive  to  compete  with 
benzene  as  an  enricherof  illuminating  gas,  or  as  a  raw  material  for 
the  synthesis  of  alcohol  or  other  substances  in  a  commercial  way  ; 
it  will  serve  as  a  convenient  and  sufficiently  inexpensive  source  of 
acelylene  for  experimental  purposes  and  it  will  therefore  without 
doubt  still  become  the  starting  point  for  many  valuable  investiga¬ 
tions.  Nikodem  Caro^  has  already  applied  the  method  of  Berthelot 
to  the  synthesis  of  alcohol  with  acetylene  liberated  from  calcium 
carbide  and  shown  that  the  yields  are  so  far  from  the  theoretical 
amounts  that  immediate  application  in  this  direction  is  at  least 
doubtful.  But  the  results  illustrate  the  possibilities  of  the  ad¬ 
vancement  of  the  science  through  these  technical  or  semi-technical 
methods. 

It  would  be  impossible  in  such  a  discussion  as  this  to  cover  more 
than  a  few  of  the  manifold  ways  in  which  the  science  of  chemistry 
has  been  advanced  by  the  industries,  their  wants  and  their  wastes 
'rhe  former  have  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  great  systems  of 
technical  schools  provided  with  the  magnificent  library  and  labo¬ 
ratory  equipments,  the  state  and  national  experiment  stations,  the 
various  official  boards  and  commissions  for  the  study  of  those 
questions  which  immediately  affect  the  general  welfare,  and  from 
each  and  all  of  these  sources  come  reports  of  advances  which  are 
most  gratifying.  The  latter,^  that  is,  the  industrial  wastes,  gave  us 


>  Cheiuische  Industrie,  181)5,231.  ^  Chem.  Industrie,  1895,226. 

s  Roscoe  and  Schorlenimer  Treatise  on  Cheinietiy.  in.  pt.  in,  15. 


ADDRESS  BY  WILLIAM  MCMURTRIE. 


21 


new  elements  and  new  compounds  and  so  furnished  the  material 
for  the  establishment  of  new  laws.  The  soap-boiler’s  lye  gave 
iodine,  the  wastes  of  the  salt  gardens  gave  bromine,  the  mother 
liquors  from  the  springs  gave  caesium  and  rubidium,  the  acid  cham¬ 
bers  selenium  and  thallium  and  the  mines  and  metallurgical  works 
gave  gallium  and  germanium. 

Whether  we  consider  this  side  of  the  subject  of  the  advancement 
of  our  science  from  one  direction  or  another,  we  shall  find  am[)le 
encouragement  for  combination  of  forces  and  for  closer  union  of 
professional  and  technical  workers  in  our  general  field  of  activity. 
For  the  benefits  from  one  side  must  bring  reciprocal  benefits  from 
the  other.  1  The  principle  of  action  and  reaction  is  as  true  and 
as  applicable  here  as  in  the  great  domain  of  physics.  Necessity  is 
the  most  natural  stimulant  to  effort  and  honest  investigation  must 
call  to  her  aid  all  knowledge  whatever  its  source  and  all  methods 
however  they  may  be  acquired,  and  where  this  is  the  moving  spirit 
progress  is  most  active.  Dr.  Ostwald  says  most  justly  that  “  the 
secret  of  German  industrial  chemistry  is  the  recognition  that-science 
is  the  best  practice.”  Is  it  not  equally  true  that  practice,  which 
leads  to  the  development  of  truth,  is  the  best  science? 

1  Caro.  Ber.  d,  deutch.  Chein.  Gessells.  25,  R.  991.  Meyer.  Geschichte  der  Chemie 
469-470. 


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